Unnecessary Act Now Good For Five Years In Swiss Pokey

Now that Swiss banks wouldn’t even begin to think about helping anyone hide assets or evade taxes or anything else untoward, it doesn’t need whistleblowers anymore. Because, again, there’s absolutely nothing for anyone to report on. So keep that in mind if you’ve got any bright ideas for selling that USB drive full of U.S. client data to the IRS. Also, keep this in mind:

Starting on Wednesday, those convicted of profiting from violating the secrecy laws—say, by selling a disk full of information about foreign Swiss bank clients to keen foreign tax authorities—face up to five years in prison. In addition, the law was expanded to also cover non-bank employees found to have made use of pilfered client data.

Previously, the law stipulated that bank employees who violated bank secrecy could receive up to three years in prison.